U.S. WNT vs. Canada - International Friendly
1-1 D

VANCOUVER, British Colombia (Nov. 9, 2017) – In another bruising edition of a regional rivalry, the U.S. Women’s National Team played Canada to a 1-1 draw in front of a sellout crowd of 28,017 fans at BC Place.

A highly competitive first half saw Canada pressure the U.S. all over the field, but it was the USA that had the first dangerous chance of the night when Megan Rapinoe’s roller from the left side of the penalty area bounced off the inside of the right post, across the face of goal and out. Later in the half, the USA began to find its rhythm and Alex Morgan took advantage of a poor Canada clearance in their area to knock a half-volley past Canada ‘keeper Stephanie Labbé and make it 1-0 in the 31st minute.

In the 39th minute, Lindsey Horan almost doubled the U.S. lead with a free kick headed towards the upper netting, but her attempt was pushed out by Canada goalkeeper Stephanie Labbé to preserve the one-goal margin.

Canada came out with a purpose in the second half and its pressure produced an equalizer after a wild scramble in front of the U.S. goal in the 57th minute as substitute Adrianna Leon poked home a Christine Sinclair cross.

Morgan had a chance to take the lead for the U.S. in the 76th minute, but her two attempts right in front of the goal were blocked by Janine Beckie as both teams fought to a tough 1-1 stalemate.

Next, the U.S. WNT will conclude its 2017 schedule with the second match of the two-game set vs. Canada on Sunday, Nov. 12 (6 p.m. PT, FS1) at Avaya Stadium in San Jose, Calif.

GoalScoringRundown:USA – Alex Morgan (Casey Short), 31st minute: Casey Short did well to take advantage of some poor clearances by Canada. Posted right outside their 18-yard box, she kept a U.S. attack alive by ultimately heading the ball to Alex Morgan, who controlled it and finished on the half-volley with her right foot to sneak the ball past the outstretched arm of Stephanie Labbé and into the lower right corner. USA 1, CAN 0. GOAL.

CAN – Adriana Leon (Christine Sinclair), 57th minute: A Rebecca Quinn shot that bounced off the cross bar was recycled by Sinclair on the left post, who kept the ball in play and sent a cross back across the six-yard box to the far side where Leon awaited to tap in for the equalizer. USA 1, CAN 1. FINAL

Alex Morgan made her 13th appearance of 2017 and sixth start. She scored her sixth goal of 2017, which leads the team. Morgan has scored six goals in her last six games for the WNT.Now with 79 goals in her career, Morgan is in sole possession of seventh place on the all-time scoring list for the WNT.

Morgan has now scored seven goals against Canada in her career, her second most against any nation. She’s score eight against Japan.

Casey Short made her 13th start of this year and 14th overall appearance. She earned her first career assist today on Morgan’s goal in what was her 18th career cap. She made her debut for the USA 13 months ago on Oct. 19, 2016.

Captaining the USA tonight was Becky Sauerbrunn, who made her 15th start and appearance of the year. She is one of only two players – Samantha Mewis being the other – to feature in every starting lineup this year. She has played the most minutes of any player on the team in 2017 at 1,260.

Alyssa Naeher earned her 22nd cap tonight. She is the ninth goalkeeper in U.S. history to earn 20 or more caps.

Kelley O'Hara made her 10th start in her 12th appearance this year. She started and captained the USA on Sept. 15 against New Zealand to earn her 100th cap, becoming the 36th player in U.S. WNT history to play 100 or more times for her country.

Abby Dahlkemper reached double-digit caps on Oct. 19 and made her 12th career appearance today in what was her ninth career start. The 2017 NWSL Defender of the Year also made her debut for the U.S. on Oct. 19, 2016, against Switzerland in Utah, and earned her first start against Norway on June 11, playing all 90 minutes to help the U.S. defense claim a shutout in Sandefjord.

Samantha Mewis earned her 34th cap today. Alongside Sauerbrunn, she is the only other player to be in the starting lineup of every game the WNT has played in 2017. She has played 1,167 minutes so far in 2017, the most besides Sauerbrunn.

Julie Ertz earned her 56th cap tonight. Ertz, who is playing as defensive midfielder, has excelled at the role, and has found the back of the net five times this year. She most recently scored against Korea Republic on Oct. 22 in Cary, North Carolina. Ertz has 13 career goals for the WNT, all originating on or from set pieces.

Lindsey Horan, who scored the game-winning goal for the Portland Thorns, where she plays with Canada captain Christine Sinclair, in the 2017 NWSL Championship game, made her 12th appearance of the year for the USA. She most recently scored for the U.S. on Sept. 19 against New Zealand in Cincinnati. Tonight was her fifth start of 2017.

Lynn Williams made her fourth start and 10th appearance this year. She has four career goals, with her latest coming on Oct. 22 in Cary against Korea Republic.

Megan Rapinoe made her seventh start of the year tonight in her 11th appearance. Against Australia on July 27 at the Tournament of Nations, she got her first start since the 2016 Olympics and played her first 90 minutes since 2015. She got the start against Brazil in the next match and had a spectacular game, scoring the goal that tied the game at 3-3, earning two assists, and playing a part in the game-winning goal as well. Her goal against Brazil was her first since she scored twice in the opening game of the 2015 WWC against Australia. She has scored three goals in 2017. She has 34 career goals, pulling her to within one goal of tying April Heinrichs and Sydney Leroux for 15th on the all-time goals list.

Ellis made five of six possible substitutions tonight: Carli Lloyd for Mewis in the 65th, Taylor Smith for Short in the 66th, Christen Press for Rapinoe in the 66th, Andi Sullivan for Ertz in the 74th and Allie Long for Williams in the 87th minute.

1. Julie Ertz vs. Korea Republic (International Friendly; Oct. 19): Something everyone can agree on is that Julie Ertz was dangerous in the penalty area this year. All six of her goals came from set pieces, but her goal against Korea Republic on Oct. 19 had a little extra mustard on it as Ertz nutmegged the goalkeeper with a diving header. The goal came off a well-struck corner kick by Megan Rapinoe from the left side that flew towards the near post. The diving Ertz sent a low, skidding header through the legs of the goalkeeper. The celebration afterwards was equally as fun.

2. Megan Rapinoe vs. Brazil (Tournament of Nations; July 30): She had just assisted Christen Press on the goal that ignited the comeback, making the score 3-2 in favor of Brazil, but then Rapinoe took the reins, scoring one of the best goals of her career to tie the game, 3-3. She settled a well-placed lofted pass from Press with a perfect touch inside the penalty area and then, with Brazil goalkeeper Barbara cheating ever so slightly for the cross, blasted her shot from a stiff angle so hard towards the near post that Barbara couldn’t react in time. Her reaction and the reaction of her teammates (as well as the pumped-up crowd inside Qualcomm Stadium) showed just how big a goal it was.

3. Alex Morgan vs. New Zealand (International Friendly; Sept. 15): This was another beauty from Alex Morgan. Sofia Huerta, playing in her first cap, sent a long cross from the right wing into the left side of the box, where Morgan brought it down with her left foot, evaded a closing defender and then ripped her shot into the roof of the net for her second goal of the year. It was vintage Morgan.

4. Megan Rapinoe vs. Japan (Tournament of Nations; Aug. 3): Breaking ankles inside of the six-yard box is how Megan Rapinoe added her name to the scoring sheet. The goal came when Christen Press found space between two defenders to slip a beautiful pass to Rapinoe, who was cutting into the right side of the penalty box. Rapinoe latched onto the pass, faked a shot to force the Japanese defender into a slide and then hesitated long enough for the defender to move out of the way as she got to her feet. Rapinoe then had enough space to slot her shot into the lower left corner from close range. The goal was worthy of a classic Rapinoe celebration, and that’s exactly what she gave to the fans.

5. Christen Press vs. Korea Republic (International Friendly; Oct. 22): This much we know: Press can be lethal shooting from outside the 18-yard box. On a nice U.S. build-up through the midfield, Alex Morgan found Press with a threaded pass near the top of the penalty area. She squared up on a defender, made space for a shot with a quick move to her right and whipped the ball brilliantly into the upper right corner for her third goal of 2017.

6. Julie Ertz vs. Brazil (Tournament of Nations, July 30): After two goals in five minutes brought the USA back to life against Brazil, the game was now tied 3-3 at the 85-minute mark. Ertz completed the incredible comeback with her game-winning goal in the 89th. Rapinoe was once again involved in the goal, playing Kelley O’Hara down the right side on the overlap. O’Hara’s cross bounced off the sliding Carli Lloyd and back to Ertz, who blasted the loose ball into the back of the net from six yards out for the victory. It was Ertz’ first goal of 2017…. but it wouldn’t be her last.

7. Christen Press vs. Brazil (Tournament of Nations, July 30): After Brazil made it 3-1 in the 78th minute on well-placed free-kick goal, ESPN commentator Ian Darke was understandably gloomy about the USA’s prospects. “The U.S., surely sunk here….”, said Darke, but then something amazing happened. The USA scored three goals in nine minutes, starting with this Christen Press rocket. Megan Rapinoe slipped a perfectly weighted pass into the left side of the penalty box for Press, who collected, spun toward goal and smacked a right-footed shot into the upper left corner from 14 yards away to make it 3-2.

8. Alex Morgan vs. Canada (International Friendly; Nov. 9): Of her team-leading seven goals this year, one of Morgan’s best came against a familiar opponent: Canada. The play began when Casey Short did well to take advantage of some poor clearances by Canada and headed the ball back into the mixer. Morgan kept a U.S. attack alive by bravely heading the bouncing ball past a defender and then drilling a half-volley with her right foot between three Canada defenders. The shot bounced hard past the outstretched arm of Stephanie Labbé and into the lower right corner for a timely and stylish finish.

9. Allie Long vs. Russia (International Friendly; April 6): In classic Allie Long fashion, she scored on a header in the 70th minute (her second of the night) after Mallory Pugh crossed into the middle of the six-yard box. Long beat a pair of players with a powerful falling header for her fifth career goal (all of which had come on headers, although she did go on to score her sixth with her foot on Oct. 22) and her second multi-goal game for the USA, which coincidentally enough came exactly a year after her first (April 6, 2016, against Colombia in East Hartford, Connecticut).

10. Mallory Pugh vs. Japan (Tournament of Nations; Aug. 3): Pugh hadn’t scored for the WNT so far in 2017, and after suffering an injury during warmups on June 11 in Norway, she made her return to game action in the Tournament of Nations. Against Japan in the 60th minute, Pugh received a perfect ball from Taylor Smith and swiftly ran into the box, charging at the ‘keeper all alone before calmly finishing with a low shot. The classy finish by the 19-year-old showcased her decision-making as well as her growth over the last year.

A layman’s way to describe an experiment would probably be something like this: let’s try some things, and some more things, in a detailed and conscientious way, until we can find out some answers to our questions that are based on facts.

Following the cycle of the 2015 World Cup and 2016 Olympics, U.S. WNT head coach Jill Ellis knew that for this team to be successful in 2019 and 2020, the team would need to grow and evolve. How and in what way? That would involve looking at numerous players in difficult environments against quality opponents, and at times in some different formations. In effect, she would have to do some experimenting.

It has been clear for more than a few years that the world is catching up in women’s soccer. The Netherlands are the 2017 Women’s EURO champions, dethroning perennial title holder Germany and defeating Denmark in the final. Spain, one of the most exciting of the up-and-coming teams, won its first Algarve Cup earlier this year. It’s no longer David vs. Goliath. There are more Goliaths out there and many of the Davids are getting quite good as well.

With the playing field continuing to level, it of course follows that the USA needs to continue to evolve to remain at the top of the mountain. Because of this, the focus naturally shifted from what this team was, to what it could be in 2019 and 2020. It is actually a golden opportunity.

When Ellis took the head coaching job in May of 2014, she had just a short time to prepare for qualifying and then just eight months before the start of the Women’s World Cup. The run to the Olympics was similarly accelerated. Now, she’s had the chance to take the time to do the work in building and finding answers as an important 2018 draws closer.

That process has been built on the evaluation of players – veterans, less experienced players and newcomers, and Ellis has certainly shown she is willing to give players’ chances.

Five players earned a first cap on Oct. 19, 2016. Since then, Ellis has given a first cap to eight more players.

Here are some facts and figures since October of 2016 regarding call-ups by Ellis and her staff.

“Those numbers are reflective of the process that we committed to,” Ellis said of the deep dive into personnel over the last year or so, which is even more extensive when one considers the dozens of NWSL games she and her staff took in this season. “Even when you are a team that is always expected to win every game, sometimes you have to set a goal and you have to experiment and try new things. We put these players into tough positions early on. We had them playing with different people alongside them and that was going to be challenging. But if you believe in the process it will pay off, and it already has paid off from the emergence of some of these players."

Those include Samantha Mewis, Andi Sullivan, Rose Lavelle, Abby Dahlkemper, Lynn Williams, Taylor Smith to name a few, all talented players under the age of 25 working hard for a place on the new look WNT. The period of experimentation has also provided positive results among more experienced players who are finding success in different positions, as Julie Ertz performed very well in the central midfield, as has Lindsey Horan, while the USA’s plethora of attacking talent continues to battle for playing time.

Rose Lavelle shined in her U.S. WNT debut earlier this year on March 4, 2017 against England.

“This time has given us an opportunity to look at players in different spots, look at different systems and see a player’s role and see how it might change and shift,” Ellis said. “We want to be a naturally, aggressive pressing team and if those are the things that we want, now we look at our personnel, and through this year we feel very confident that we have a tactically flexible team that also plays incredibly well out of the 4-3-3.”

When there are new and youngers players inserted into one of the most competitive teams in the world, the transition will not always be smooth or easy. Early in 2017, the USA lost back-to-back games against France and England during the SheBelieves Cup. It also lost to Australia at the Tournament of Nations. But the WNT also defeated Sweden (1-0) and Norway (1-0) this past June with low-scoring but gritty performances abroad after long travel and little rest, and won six straight games while scoring three or more goals in all of them. It then concluded 2017 with a 1-1 draw in Vancouver and a 3-1 win in San Jose, both against Canada, the fifth-ranked team in the world. It’s been a difficult year, but also a positive one filled with learning and growth, and to Ellis that is a lot more valuable right now.

“When you take over a team, you take some time to assess and evaluate, to know what the strengths are and build from those,” Ellis said. “Going into 2015, we had very limited time and the team was pretty much set, but [after 2016] I’ve been really pleased that this window of time has enabled us to examine everything about this team and how to build on the strengths of our players. Occasionally you learn more from failing, but this is the process we decided to go through. We knew it would be challenging, but it’s certainly paid off so far and we still have a long way to go.”

New pairings have beginning to take shape in the last 13 months, one is the one of Becky Sauerbrunn and Abby Dahlkemper in the back line.

If the central midfield is the engine of your soccer team, you’ll want one that is powerful. At the same time, you want it to be versatile, able to accelerate and decelerate on a dime when necessary, and work at a high level of RPMs over a 90-minute game. You always need it to be reliable, able to take a beating and of course, the more cylinders the better to power that machine.

The USA’s central midfield players at the 2015 Women’s World Cup and 2016 Olympics put in excellent shifts on the biggest of stages.

In Canada, with Carli Lloyd playing as more of a withdrawn forward, and Lauren Holiday and Morgan Brian (who entered the USA lineup beginning in the quarterfinal when Holiday was suspended due to yellow cards) playing the lion’s share of minutes behind the soon-to-be FIFA Player of the Year, the USA memorably knocked off some extremely talented teams to win its third Women’s World Cup title.

Morgan Brian and Carli Lloyd at the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup

The following year at the Olympics in Brazil, Allie Long was added to the central midfield mix, while Lindsey Horan also saw some minutes in central midfield, along with Brian and Lloyd.

Over those two tournaments there was definite quality in those positions and some world class performances. What wasn’t there was depth, especially at the Olympics where the roster size allows for just 16 field players.

“Back in 2015, we played out of a 4-4-2, mainly because we didn’t have a lot of depth in there,” said Ellis. “Bringing younger players in and giving them these kinds of opportunities has given us a very diverse group of central players, and like any team, we lean on that very heavily in terms what they can bring to the table. It’s a very exciting problem to have.”

While Holiday retired after the World Cup, Lloyd and Brian and Long are veterans with invaluable experience playing centrally at the highest levels. Additionally, Horan – in her fifth season as a pro despite being only 23-years-old – blossomed in a midfield role after an excellent season for the Portland Thorns. She played all 24 regular season games and scored four goals with two assists while helping her club to a NWSL title. She scored the game-winner in the championship game, a 1-0 victory against the North Carolina Courage.

Lindsey Horan has had a terrific season both for club and country in 2017.

In the latter stages of 2017, the emergence of Julie Ertz as a defensive midfielder has added a tremendous boost to the U.S. team. With thunderous ball-winning talents and a goal-scoring knack that has seen her up her career total to 14, Ertz has looked extremely comfortable playing in midfield after seeing almost all her minutes in central defense for the first four years of her WNT career. She played almost exclusively at the defensive midfield spot during the NWSL season for the Chicago Red Stars and her success there provided a clearer picture for her transition to the midfield at the international level, albeit in a position that has many similar characteristics to a center back.

Then you add to the mix the six-foot Samantha Mewis, who has had a breakout year for club and country while starting every match and playing the most minutes on the U.S. team besides Becky Sauerbrunn. In the “up-and-coming” category is 21-year-old Andi Sullivan, who has recovered from an ACL injury after a bright debut for the National Team at the end of 2016, and 22-year-old Rose Lavelle, who in between some injuries has shown flashes of brilliance and some qualities that could make her a legitimate number 10.

Over the span of 13 months, Ellis has analyzed what she values as an “exciting problem;” eight players currently in the mix and battling for playing time in what is usually a three-player central midfield.

Samantha Mewis has blossomed into a strong figure in the center of the field.

In the middle, Ellis now has connecters and distributors, ball-winners, goal-scorers, dribblers, and players who can shoot and score from distance, or on set plays. It’s an exciting mix of talents and skillsets to draw from. Over the next handful of months, one goal will be to find the best combination(s) of players and qualities.

“We’ve had some injuries, so we haven’t fixated yet on a set three,” said Ellis. “But over time, over the next months, we’ll be looking at their qualities and how the players play off each other. It’s about finding the right combination of those three and ball-winners and distributors and goal scorers. That’s going to be imperative in terms of starting to look at connections on the field. We’ve got a skeleton and now we’re working on the nervous system. That’s going to be the chemistry and interplay between these players and we’ll see how they complement each other and bring out the best in each other.”

A new edition of the Black and White Collection is here, this time featuring some of the best photos from the U.S. Women's National Team training in Vancouver, British Columbia, for a pair of friendly matches against Canada. The WNT played to a 1-1 draw at BC Place on Nov. 9, and is now preparing for the second match, set to take place on Nov. 12 at Avaya Stadium in San Jose, Calif. (6 p.m. PT on FS1).